BotTalk Reviews

Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, your local spinner rack is once again brandishing another brand new issue of SSOC!  64 startling pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint paper! Inside this gorgeous magazine you will find the following: Terrific art pin-ups: Conan the Barbarian by Ivan Gil (Conan: Scourge of the Serpent) El Borak versus Samiri by Patrick Zircher (Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring) CONAN: HEART OF DARKNESS by Chris Ryall (Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History) and Gabriel Rodriguez (Robert E. Howard: Rattle of Bones & Other Terrifying Tales) Ghulistani Hinterlands A beast of sorceress Er'Bo'A attacks Conan, C'Kaan (a sorcerer and an homage to The Guy aka the mascot of Disturbed), Jorgus and Buterra the Wise (an homage to Heroic Signatures editor Chris Butera). Buterra dies. The dying beast infects Conan with its black magic. An old woman (Hanna, whose daughters (Suna and Suhar) are under the influence of Er'Bo'A) clea...

A family argument breaks out on a rented houseboat.  Chet and his sister Laura take shots and jabs at each other, each placing blame on the other.  The next day it continues until Laura and her husband cannonball into the water.  The husband comes back for his brother-in-law.  Chet dives in only to come up in a darker version of reality, while his sister and brother-in-law find a somewhat nicer reality.  Chet's new friends turn on him.  At the same time, his sister realizes she wouldn't trade the slightly nicer world for her brother.  She dives in to save him, comes back up only to smack into the false bottom of the boat.  Looking down at her is Chet, unable to break through to her. In a way this feels like a take on 'The Bewitchin' Pool' the final episode of the original series.  Only here we get a better world and its shadow.  Honestly, the dialogue between Chet and Laura is insufferable.  It feels very of the moment and just goes...